An Alipurduar Durga Puja pandal has recreated Bengal’s disappearing postal world with old postcards, postage stamps, inland letters, letterboxes and handwritten correspondence, giving younger visitors a physical introduction to how people once stayed connected.
The installation by the Alipurduar Chowpathi Durga Puja Committee places the Durga idol inside a giant letterbox. It also includes a bicycle representing the vehicles once used by postmen to deliver letters from door to door, as well as a display about a postal runner who carried mail on foot to remote settlements.
One section highlights the legacy of Bengal’s last runner, who delivered letters to villages in the Buxa Hills until 2009. The display brings together objects and forms of communication that have largely disappeared from everyday use, including postcards, inland letters, postage stamps and telegrams.
Ritam Sarkar, the artist behind the theme, said the concept was intended to show younger visitors a world they have not experienced. “Over the last 25 years, postcards, inland letters, stamps and telegrams have almost disappeared from everyday life. The younger generation doesn’t know this world of letters, only smartphones and laptops,” Sarkar said.
The pandal also uses sound to extend the exhibition beyond its physical displays. A 13-minute audio presentation combines songs and narration about the importance of letters and the people who relied on them, including freedom fighters, young people living in hostels and families separated by distance.
The installation turns a temporary festival structure into an accessible public exhibition about communication, mobility and the postal network. Its use of a letterbox as the central architectural element links the religious centre of the pandal to the everyday infrastructure that once carried personal messages across towns, villages and remote areas.
The theme has also drawn interest from school students. Class XI student Aishika Dutta said she was particularly fascinated by the display about the runner, whose work depended on travelling long distances on foot to reach areas beyond conventional road and delivery networks.
By combining archival objects, recreated postal equipment, recorded narration and the Durga idol, the Alipurduar pandal presents the postal system as both a memory and a public story. The installation remains open to visitors during the Durga Puja celebrations.
